Faroe Islands: Sagas, sushi and street art

Faroe Islands: land of sagas

Have you been to the Faroe Islands? If not, maybe you have an idea of what you will find on these Viking isles? Perhaps you’re thinking steep green hills, wooden houses, grass roofs…? You would be right.

The photo above shows Kirkjubøargarður, once the home of a Viking king. The oldest part of the building is 1000 years old, so it’s actually one of the oldest inhabited wooden houses in the world. The Patursson family has lived here since 1557, now on the 17th generation.

Sagas abound in the Faroe Islands. Tórshavn, the tiny capital, is home to the world’s first parliament, established by Vikings in 850 CE. However, the islands are older than that. When the Norwegians stopped by for the first time in 795, they stumbled upon hermit Irish monks. The monks probably arrived in 625, hoping to find natives to save. No such luck! Instead, they occupied themselves with keeping sheep and growing oat. The monks are said to have moved on towards Iceland about the time the Norwegians came along.

So much for sagas. Perhaps more surprisingly, Tórshavn is also home to a fabulous sushi restaurant and some colourful street art.

Sushi in the Faroe Islands – North Atlantic fish meets Japan

Perhaps you thought the Faroese mostly ate puffin and whale meat? Not so.

With funky decor, location in the heart of Tórshavn, excellent food, and a sleek wine bar, Etika is a local highlight. As you might guess from the name, Etika is also an ethically and environmentally aware establishment, offering locally sourced fish and green gift items for sale. Freshly caught North Atlantic fish meets Japanese philosophy.

I’m hardly a raw fish connoisseur, but my daughters adore sushi above all else. During our three days in the Faroes, they visited Etika four times!

Faroe Islands public art

So you thought street art was a big city phenomenon? The 13 000 residents of Tórshavn might disagree. Here’s a small selection.

55 Responses to “Faroe Islands: Sagas, sushi and street art”

I’m not so good with history so I am not familiar with Vikings. But the home of their King looks scary to me. Don’t you think it’s scary? The street art is really good. We have those here too, but not as good as the ones in the photos.

It always cracks me up when I hear that youngsters love sushi! Shows my age – I didn’t try it until college. So many contrasts in the Faroe islands by the look of your photos – old and historic, yet modern with the restaurant style and all the graffiti. I like it!

Vikar means temporary worker in Norwegian, and I imagine it’s the same in Faroese. I think that might be a protest mural, perhaps by a labour union, against the EU’s Temporary and Agency Work Directive. It’s been hotly debated here, at least.

Thanks for sharing this, Sophie. I love places like this. They are so “out of this world” and not your run-of-the-mill travel destinations. Places that are worth to be discovered in the true sense of the word.

The Faroe’s look like a great place to visit. I think the Nat’l Geographic has given the islands high marks for preserving their environment and culture – if I remember correctly.
Very interesting post Sophie and I feel like I’ve learned something today.

I really have never given the Faroes much thought. Looks like I should change that! I love that you had the Kings old house which is 1,000 years old and then the very modern looking sushi restaurant. I actually really liked the Kings House!

I love the first picture and fit my image of the Faroe Islands more (since I’ve never been) but I am finding the street art very interesting. That Etika must have been really good or they really really love sushi =)

No need to be ashamed! Most people I meet in the world never heard of it, and if they have they know nothing about it ^^ even in Denmark they don’t know enough about it, which is funny since we belong to them ^^

Thank you for sharing this with us 🙂 being from the Faroe Island and working in the tourism for years I find it very interesting to read what our guests find interesting about our Island. It gives me inspiration to think about the islands in new ways. Specially the lines about the street art.

Hi Susan,
I was wondering when a commenter would bring up the Grindadrap. While I think the time has probably come for the Faroese to give up this ancient tradition (as the need for food is no longer a relevant reason), I strongly disagree about the Faroese being more inhumane than others. In fact, I’ve found them to be kind and generous and very ecologically aware. Even National Geographic agreed when they rated the Faroes the world’s best island destination a few years ago.

here we go again.. everytime someone talks about the faroe island, someone has to bring up the whaling..
So susan..sure, it’s sad that we kill the whales, it’s always sad to take another life.. but what about every other country in the world? Yeah, we kill whale, but what about the pigs, cows and chicken that are killed every day? isn’t that wrong as well? people should really look at their own country before they try to control another 🙂
And sorry sophie, for talking bout this on your blog, just pisses me off that people can’t talk about the faroe islands, without someone commenting about whaling 🙂